Oscar Wildcat - 2015-09-23 For twelve years, you have been asking: Who is John Galt?
This is John Galt speaking!

Binro the Heretic - 2015-09-23 This whole media circus was fun and horrifying to watch.

The silver lining is that it's thrown a spotlight on the pharmaceutical industry where shit like this is alarmingly commonplace. It might not have garnered so much media attention if this guy hadn't been a smug asshole of Trump to the power of 3 level. When someone on Twitter told him it would place a heavy financial burden on people who needed the drug, he literally responded with, "Not my problem, man."

I also hate that he bears a ballpark resemblance to Jeff Davis, just as I was angry at Romney for sort of looking like Bruce Campbell.

I'll bet that dentist who shot Cecil the lion is glad this douche bro is around, though.

Bort - 2015-09-23 Both Sanders and Clinton have recently released proposals to rein in pharmaceutical companies; I don't know how much douchebag here prodded them, but if he did, joke's on him.

Side note, I've felt for some time that Bernie needs to stop fussing over single payer, because what we need to focus on is medical costs (i.e., what hospitals and pharmaceuticals are charging). Single payer may be the most efficient way to collect and disburse policyholders' premiums, but when medical costs are spiraling completely out of control, single payer's efficiency counts for nothing. And, once medical costs are more reasonable, single payer becomes more viable anyway, so think of this as a necessary prerequisite to single payer if you like.

Meerkat - 2015-09-23 It is my considered opinion that charging someone for an aspirin should be prosecuted as extortion.

Bort - 2015-09-23 Agreed, it's definitely price gouging and not so different from other predatory practices that our government regulates. The Sanders and Clinton proposals will curb pharmaceutical companies, but then there is also the process by which hospitals set fees. Hospitals draw up a schedule of prices -- insanely inflated -- and insurers can negotiate the prices downward. There ought to be some sort of oversight to rein in that initial schedule of prices, so that the markup can't go above a certain level.

One battle at a time; I'd like to fix everything all at once, but I also understand that's asking a lot.

SolRo - 2015-09-23 Okay, have we finally found someone that no one on poetv would object to getting raped repeatedly in prison?

He can go broke buying overpriced medicine and then die a horrible lingering death.

cognitivedissonance - 2015-09-23 I believe that even evil people have souls and have the opportunity to repent.

I recognize I may be part of the problem.

That guy - 2015-09-23 I think you almost got it right with the 'cured and poor'. The division of ironic torture solution is:

He needs a maintenance drug to live that leaves him with just enough money to eke by.

Meerkat - 2015-09-23 He should be raped to death by angry and vocal porpoises. Or by a giant cyborg furry fox hitler clone with a drill penis.

Bort - 2015-09-23 The imperial family of China (I think) used to come down with a disease called beriberi, which was caused by a vitamin deficiency because they ate white rice but not brown rice (i.e., rice with the the vitamin-rich husk). Something like that would be an appropriate punishment for douchebag.

"Berry Berry Kix" always used to make me giggle because it's really not a good idea to name your cereal after a vitamin deficiency. Sort of like naming your car a Kia (KIA being a military acronym for "Killed In Action").

Killer Joe - 2015-09-23 He also owns a number of e-sports teams.
He's like a low rent Trump in so many ways!

Raggamuffin - 2015-09-23 He's styled himself after the villain from Casino Royale.

As bad as this is, it's not like he's doing anything that the pharma industry doesn't do regularly, he just got noticed because he got greedy. If he'd hiked the price slowly over time, no one would have noticed.

Monkey Napoleon - 2015-09-23 Also, a surefire way to draw attention to yourself when you've done something fucking evil is to go around appearing on tv shows explaining yourself and responding to tweets. If you just shut the fuck up and lay low, everyone will forget in a few weeks.

Raggamuffin - 2015-09-23 Now that you mention it, it never even occurred to me that this whole thing is just because he knows he can do whatever he wants and he just wanted to rub everyone's nose's in it.

oddeye - 2015-09-23 Healthcare in America is a far bigger problem than terrorism in America.

FACT!

animegurl1000 - 2015-09-23 Healthcare price-gouging kills more Americans in a week than terrorism does in an entire year.

(I'll admit I pulled this statistic out of my ass, but I'm willing to put down money that it's true.)

SolRo - 2015-09-23 guns kill more people in America in one year than terrorism ever has

oddeye - 2015-09-24 What is your point exactly? Guns are for killing things, healthcare is supposed to be about the opposite.

EvilHomer - 2015-09-24 Typically trashy reporting and spurious arguments from both sides. I don't care how smarmy someone looks, what I need to know is: what are the numbers? I can think of at least four relevant data points: what is the actual cost of manufacturing and distributing this drug? What percentage of the profits will be used for R&D, versus what percentage will be used for "frivolous" expenses, such as executive bonuses or vacations for shareholders? How many people, exactly, rely on this drug? And what will this price increase actually mean for the people in treament - i.e. will the cost increase be covered by their (public or private) health insurance, or will they be SOL? (don't forget, one of the perks of having Obamacare is that now, individuals don't have to worry so much about the actual costs of their treatment) Without knowing these four pieces of data (not one of which CBS actually bothers to tell us), we the audience cannot possibly judge the merits of anyone's arguments.

I will say that the CEO's use of the word "altruism" was a stretch. The actual argument - that proceeds from the drug can be used to fund research - is a valid one, but he did not adequately defend his use of the word "altruism", and I think he knew perfectly well that he was being disingenuous. This guy is a great illustration of how the primary qualification for any top-level leader is being able to bullshit convincingly, at least long enough for the cameras to move on to something else.

Dr. Agis' counterpoint at 2:05 is even worse. Apparently, publicly-funded research is now verboten! *Of course* patients should be taxed and charged to fund research. Research is an economic activity and it costs a lot of money, only some of which is ever received through voluntary sources like philanthropic grants or charities; the public is constantly being taxed and charged for medical research, they always have been, and until we figure out a way to get "free" research out of a slave army of unbreakable hydrogen-powered robo-scientists, then they always will. While I'd love for society to progress to the point where we can do away with government-funded research or allow citizens to voluntarily drop out of taxation requirements, that is not likely to happen - and of all the things economic extortion pays for, medical research is probably the LAST one we'd want to get rid of!

... and of course there's crude political grandstanding. Why else would we be hearing about this on the news?

TeenerTot - 2015-09-24 1. Cost to make drug:
2. R&D vs frivolity: Draw your own conclusions fro above. (Side note, the guy was a hedge fund manager. Relevant?)
3. People who rely on the drug Wiki'ed:"Up to half of the world's population is infected with toxoplasmosis. In the United States about 23% are affected and in some areas of the world this is up to 95%."
4. Perhaps obamacare will cover the costs, but what about folks not in the US?

urbanelf - 2015-09-24 Yeah, I don't understand this. The price went up because GSK and CorePharmaceuticals stopped making the drug, not because this little shit bought the brand "Daraprim".

StanleyPain - 2015-09-24 I'm surprised someone this young thought they could pull this shit and be so openly smug about it without expecting the obvious social media backlash. This guy's entire life is being blasted apart and god knows what "anonymous" hacker types are going to do with him.

Oktay - 2015-09-24 I'm starting to wonder whether capitalism is as great an idea as its proponents want us to think.